TY - JOUR
T1 - A positive neighborhood walkability is associated with a higher magnitude of leisure walking in adults upon COVID-19 restrictions
T2 - a longitudinal cohort study
AU - Spoelder, Marcia
AU - Schoofs, Merle C. A.
AU - Raaphorst, Kevin
AU - Lakerveld, Jeroen
AU - Wagtendonk, Alfred
AU - Hartman, Yvonne A. W.
AU - van der Krabben, Erwin
AU - Hopman, Maria T. E.
AU - Thijssen, Dick H. J.
N1 - Funding Information: The Lifelines initiative has been made possible by subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, and the Provinces in the north of the Netherlands (Drenthe, Friesland, and Groningen). Funding for access to the Lifelines data for this project was supported by ZonMw grant nr. 10430 03201 0013. Geo-data were collected as part of the Geoscience and Health Cohort Consortium (GECCO), which was financially supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientifc Research (NWO), the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw, Project number: 91118017), and Amsterdam UMC. More information on GECCO can be found on www.gecco.nl . This work was also supported by the Vitality Data Center (VDC) project, which was jointly funded by Utrecht University and Eindhoven University of Technology. The funders had no role in the execution of the work, nor in the interpretation of the results. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2023/12/1
Y1 - 2023/12/1
N2 - Background: Previous cross-sectional and longitudinal observational studies revealed positive relationships between contextual built environment components and walking behavior. Due to severe restrictions during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, physical activity was primarily performed within the immediate living area. Using this unique opportunity, we evaluated whether built environment components were associated with the magnitude of change in walking activity in adults during COVID-19 restrictions. Methods: Data on self-reported demographic characteristics and walking behaviour were extracted from the prospective longitudinal Lifelines Cohort Study in the Netherlands of participants ≥ 18 years. For our analyses, we made use of the data acquired between 2014–2017 (n = 100,285). A fifth of the participants completed the questionnaires during COVID-19 restrictive policies in July 2021 (n = 20,806). Seven spatial components were calculated for a 500m and 1650m Euclidean buffer per postal code area in GIS: population density, retail and service destination density, land use mix, street connectivity, green space density, sidewalk density, and public transport stops. Additionally, the walkability index (WI) of these seven components was calculated. Using multivariable linear regression analyses, we analyzed the association between the WI (and separate components) and the change in leisure walking minutes/week. Included demographic variables were age, gender, BMI, education, net income, occupation status, household composition and the season in which the questionnaire was filled in. Results: The average leisure walking time strongly increased by 127 min/week upon COVID-19 restrictions. All seven spatial components of the WI were significantly associated with an increase in leisure walking time; a 10% higher score in the individual spatial component was associated with 5 to 8 more minutes of leisure walking/week. Green space density at the 500m Euclidean buffer and side-walk density at the 1650m Euclidean buffer were associated with the highest increase in leisure walking time/week. Subgroup analysis revealed that the built environment showed its strongest impact on leisure walking time in participants not engaging in leisure walking before the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to participants who already engaged in leisure walking before the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: These results provide strong evidence that the built environment, corrected for individual-level characteristics, directly links to changes observed in leisure walking time during COVID-19 restrictions. Since this relation was strongest in those who did not engage in leisure walking before the COVID-19 pandemic, our results encourage new perspectives in health promotion and urban planning.
AB - Background: Previous cross-sectional and longitudinal observational studies revealed positive relationships between contextual built environment components and walking behavior. Due to severe restrictions during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, physical activity was primarily performed within the immediate living area. Using this unique opportunity, we evaluated whether built environment components were associated with the magnitude of change in walking activity in adults during COVID-19 restrictions. Methods: Data on self-reported demographic characteristics and walking behaviour were extracted from the prospective longitudinal Lifelines Cohort Study in the Netherlands of participants ≥ 18 years. For our analyses, we made use of the data acquired between 2014–2017 (n = 100,285). A fifth of the participants completed the questionnaires during COVID-19 restrictive policies in July 2021 (n = 20,806). Seven spatial components were calculated for a 500m and 1650m Euclidean buffer per postal code area in GIS: population density, retail and service destination density, land use mix, street connectivity, green space density, sidewalk density, and public transport stops. Additionally, the walkability index (WI) of these seven components was calculated. Using multivariable linear regression analyses, we analyzed the association between the WI (and separate components) and the change in leisure walking minutes/week. Included demographic variables were age, gender, BMI, education, net income, occupation status, household composition and the season in which the questionnaire was filled in. Results: The average leisure walking time strongly increased by 127 min/week upon COVID-19 restrictions. All seven spatial components of the WI were significantly associated with an increase in leisure walking time; a 10% higher score in the individual spatial component was associated with 5 to 8 more minutes of leisure walking/week. Green space density at the 500m Euclidean buffer and side-walk density at the 1650m Euclidean buffer were associated with the highest increase in leisure walking time/week. Subgroup analysis revealed that the built environment showed its strongest impact on leisure walking time in participants not engaging in leisure walking before the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to participants who already engaged in leisure walking before the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: These results provide strong evidence that the built environment, corrected for individual-level characteristics, directly links to changes observed in leisure walking time during COVID-19 restrictions. Since this relation was strongest in those who did not engage in leisure walking before the COVID-19 pandemic, our results encourage new perspectives in health promotion and urban planning.
KW - Built environment
KW - COVID-19
KW - Health
KW - Physical activity
KW - Walking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85172204718&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-023-01512-3
DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-023-01512-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 37752497
SN - 1479-5868
VL - 20
JO - international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity
JF - international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity
IS - 1
M1 - 116
ER -